> no regulator in the world has successfully stopped a scam before people lost money
It's impossible to prove anyone stopping anything before harms materialize because the prevented harms never happened. Regulators have definitely stopped scams early enough to reimburse victims. And where they couldn't (and where regulators were the ones to stop it) would have presumably kept going absent their interference. Americans are to a large degree shielded from FTX's collapse on account of regulation.
It's impossible to prove anyone stopping anything before harms materialize because the prevented harms never happened. Regulators have definitely stopped scams early enough to reimburse victims. And where they couldn't (and where regulators were the ones to stop it) would have presumably kept going absent their interference. Americans are to a large degree shielded from FTX's collapse on account of regulation.